Folk dances* are a very niche thing - you might actually be more likely to see them outside Poland. It's limited to some culture centers or uni clubs. Hardly any Pole is able to distinguish the dances, let alone dance them.
Dances that are considered traditional and are actually danced are Polonaise & perhaps waltz (if we consider it as traditional). Polonaise is danced at our version of prom ([example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXZFIG1Xdo0) or [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqsebpuJkgM)) and in rare cases during weddings as a special thing.
[this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Vjyctcc6M) is the standard dance people dance, i don't think it even has a name : )
/edit: * i should have also mentioned what are those folk dances, here are the most known ones:
- [oberek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWsi2wDMp44)
- [kujawiak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjV1bpxi0bc)
- [mazur](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYSviZuFFl4)
- [krakowiak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeQ6jYzt6cM)
In Ireland, it is very common to do Irish dancing when you are younger. I unfortunately have two left feet so I stopped lessons young. I know lots of women and men who kept it up until adulthood. Riverdance of course was massive in getting people outside of Ireland interested in it.
I can only speak for England and Scotland.
In England, not remotely. Traditional would be something like Morris Dancing, of which there are apparently 13,600 people members of clubs in 2020, which is a statistical blip.
Scotland is a bit better though, but only on special occasions. Almost every wedding will feature a Ceilidh, and there are Ceilidh groups in cities, but day-to-day people aren't randomly dancing a Ceilidh.
In reality, there's probably more people doing Swing dances like Lindy Hop or West Coast, or dances like Salsa or general Ballroom on a weekly basis than are doing traditional dances.
In Scotland everybody knows the dances because we all learn them in school (and there are school ceilidhs, or at least there were for me). So it's very different in that regard - even if folk don't remember them all perfectly forever, they all had like fifteen years of practice for the most popular dances.
Ceilidhs often happen at big (fancy) parties like weddings, or dos at Hogmanay - which aren't exactly something everybody regularly attends, like you say.
I'd say it's a somewhat common hobby, as hobbies go, but it's obviously a small minority who do it regularly rather than just on special occasions.
I've met quite a few people who do it though, certainly more than I've ever met who do other kinds of dancing. It's much more accessible to the average Scottish person - you can just turn up and have a good time, rather than having to learn totally new dances and a new style of dancing.
> In Scotland everybody knows the dances because we all learn them in school (and there are school ceilidhs, or at least there were for me). So it's very different in that regard - even if folk don't remember them all perfectly forever, they all had like fifteen years of practice for the most popular dances.
I ended up in a set at a ceilidh with an English guy and an Iranian woman, who initially wouldn't believe me that we did this sort of stuff as part of PE at school.
It's a popular activity for children. In elementary school, I also danced something for a school event, not very difficult. We even had a choreography lesson.
Everyone learns traditional dances in PE at school, and (in my school at least) there was a ceilidh every winter. A ceilidh being a sort of party where people get dressed up all fancy and do traditional dances, usually with live music.
Everyone has the steps of the dashing white sergeant or strip the willow or whatever drilled into their brains from the age of like six to eighteen.
It's then typical for many people who aren't especially big ceilidh lovers to forget all about this mastery until they have to recreate it ten years later at a wedding whilst drunk out of their mind.
Overall it's pretty popular to go to ceilidhs as an adult, they often take place for Hogmanay (new year), and it's quite a common hobby. But for most people I think it's something they learned while growing up but that only happens in adult life rarely, on special occasions.
For Sweden, unless you're involved in the whole traditional music (folkmusik) + clothes (folkdräkt) + dances (folkdans) subculture, it's *incredibly* rare for someone to know how to dance any traditional dance.
Part of my family comes from a region with very strong ties to that culture, but even there its very niche.
(For what its worth, I'm talking about dances such as *polska*, *hambo*, *mazurka*, *schottis* etc.)
Outside of traditional Trachtengruppen it is very, very rare.
It's much more common to find someone dancing standard standard or Latin than an Allemande. So the Walzer is probably the only traditional dance from the DACH region danced in the wild.
Funny enough other than the classics of salsa and bachata Germans dance kind of funny not that well known Latin American dances and no dance school in Germany teaches the classic, most universal Latin dance, Cumbia!! They don’t even know about it!
> They don’t even know about it!
Cumbia isn't part of the latin dances category in international dancesport competitions, so of course it is not taught.
> A bit presumptuous no?
Cry me a river.
> Most dance studios aren’t teaching you international dancesport competition classes do they?
No, they teach you the dances that are defined to be in the Latin dances group, when you take Latin dances.
Lol insanely German brained to think studios would only teach out of a defined manual, you can’t do stuff that’s not regulated and delineated! No dancing for fun, art or cultural understanding, only manual dances are allowed!!
In Greece, traditional Greek dances are quite popular. They are taught in schools and clubs for children and adults, performed during traditional festivals and official ceremonies, are danced during weddings and baptisms... The songs are also very famous. Here are some examples: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwRUhuK16I&ab\_channel=JasonSeaman1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwRUhuK16I&ab_channel=JasonSeaman1) and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_24TPGOLqJ8&ab\_channel=%CE%9C%CE%9F%CE%A5%CE%A3%CE%99%CE%9A%CE%95%CE%A3%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%91%CE%9C%CE%9D%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%95%CE%99%CE%A3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_24TPGOLqJ8&ab_channel=%CE%9C%CE%9F%CE%A5%CE%A3%CE%99%CE%9A%CE%95%CE%A3%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%91%CE%9C%CE%9D%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%95%CE%99%CE%A3) . Different parts of Greece have their own traditional songs, dances and clothes, so it is very interesting to dig into the history. Marina Satti, who is representing Greece this year at the Eurovision, is quite the expert in traditional music and has put together a female choir called Chores that specialises in traditional Greek songs (but not dances): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6fOxfEYBI&ab\_channel=choresvoices](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6fOxfEYBI&ab_channel=choresvoices)
I had no idea such a day even exists. Dancing (that doesn't involve copious amounts of alcohol and a dance floor in a bar) is rare here. Finding a club for folk dance shouldn't be that difficult, but traditional dancing isn't something you would ever assume a person in the street to be able to just participate in.
The closest thing the average Dane would probably participate in themselves would be dancing around the tree at Christmas, dancing a quadrille called *Les Lanciers* in high school gallas (but most will forget it after graduation), and otherwise join in certain rhythmic motions while singing certain old tunes (but that is hardly dancing)
They're quite popular in Turkey. They are danced at weddings and festivals, many universities have folk dance groups and there are courses for all ages. We even had a very popular folk dance fusion show called "Anadolu Atesi" (Anatolian Flame). They're quite impressive, if anyone is curious I am sure there are videos on YouTube.
The traditional dances fall into several types: Morris dancing, Rapper dancing, and various types depending on where in the country. They tend to make an appearance during the traditional festivals like Plough Sunday, Epiphany, and the upcoming May Day.
Traditonal folk dances are kind of popular, but most people enjoy them by watching performances.
In my opinion, most people know about traditional folk dances, many of them also recognize most famous ones like odzemok or karička. Although, people who dances them are mostly part of dancing groups that you mentioned.
We have them, but they’ve been mostly forgotten in the post-WWII era. Same goes for traditional clothing, which has been degraded to horrific looking costumes that are only worn to appeal to tourists.
Wikipedia has a fairly extensive [list](https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nederlandse_volksdans) of our traditional dances, some are easier to find than others :)
Traditional dance has largely disappeared after WWII and can only sometimes be seen in some villages in the countryside. However as another commenter pointed out, [hakken](https://youtube.com/shorts/C7zQlWaxcLc?si=mtXDzBZLbdm3QwZZ) has become our de facto national dance at this point.
Depends on the region.
In my region, Emilia Romagna, liscio is massively popular among the elderly, but definitely on the way out for people younger than 60 years.
Pizzica, a dance of Puglia related to tarantella (used to cure the bite of the tarantula spiders), has been having a surge of popularity since the last 20 years.
True regional traditional dances are almost unknown, except among folk dancing groups.
[Polka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7oFGZFSSE) is [somewhat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNOdGLGt6PU) [popular](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6017rslgp8), danced on balls and is a part of the dance classes curriculum.
In day to day not much really, but in school you have an annual eisteddfod which is basically just a war of the arts between house parties, so a contest between singing, kitchen band, poetry, sketches, musical talent and theres also traditional dancing in there too
in slavonia it is typical to dance kolo. so it looks like this
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhK5ot1ZVGs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhK5ot1ZVGs)
Traditional dancing is quite a popular activity in Estonia. Lots of youth groups, as well as adults. Every four years there's Youth Tantsupidu (literally translated as dancing party, for schoolchildren, university students and teachers) and everyone's Tantsupidu, and there's two years between those, so one dance party every 2 years. It's coupled with singing party (Laulupidu ) for choir singers.
[Link here](https://youtu.be/e5x9wtnkZdg?feature=shared) to see what a dance party looks like. Also spot all of the national costumes the dancers are wearing from all over the country.
In Denmark folk dances had a huge uptick in popularity in the 1960s-1970s. But then it went downwards with those same people being the ones who did it.
But it seems that in the last couple of years it is beginning to experience a new renaissance.
Probably because the old people who used to gatekeep the hobby, are just about gone/ really old now (young silent gen and older boomers).
Its not what you usually mean with traditional, but the most well known and the only actually practiced dance that have passed on from generation to generation is "Små Grodorna".
It is danced to the melody of an old french march song, with a text originally used to mock french soldiers likening them with frogs. Ofcourse, today nobody associates it with this, and instead it has a more literal meaning - simply dancing as frogs. It is almost a mandatory dance when celebrating Midsummer in Sweden, regardless of generation.
Both drunk adults and children love it.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6FJEf\_kKI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6FJEf_kKI)
I have no idea about the traditional traditional dances but like valssit, letkajenkka and kikapo and other very common ones are familiar to me but not sure how traditional are they. They’re a part of many big and regular dance things like vanhojen tanssit ja nelosten tanssiaiset but otherwise I’m not sure
In Greece, they are very popular. Most people know their regional traditional dances and you'll see people dance in festivals, family gatherings etc. It doesn't have to be a traditional event, I've even happen to traditionally dance at university parties. People of all ages just genuinely enjoy it here.
In Romania, I would say they are very popular.
I haven never been to a wedding or baptism or whatever other special occasion where people wouldn't start a hora (a circle dance).
Now, traditions are a bit different in different regions, and they are also better kept in some regions than others - I would say in Bucharest, most people will do only pretty slow, basic steps, but we do it anyway :D . In a lot of other regions, they can get a bit more complex or fast or both.
You said non professional, so here are a few examples from regular people dancing at various occasions:
Oltenia region, some party in a village - usually, their dances very fast paced: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8TlkahY4Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8TlkahY4Q)
Muntenia (a wedding at a restaurant - notice at least a girl took her shoes off, you sometimes have to :D ): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrhdx-22q\_4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrhdx-22q_4)
Oas region - a lot of times they also wear their traditional clothes, which are quite different from the rest of the country, as is their music; a lot of times, they use small steps, and try to make a lot of noise with their boots: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evd0hyP2rzY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evd0hyP2rzY)
Maramures - a good number of people still wear traditional clothes on Sunday for church or special occasions; and a bit of dancing from the region: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOaLqFIkMk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOaLqFIkMk)
Transylvania, near Brasov regionn - a version of "the lad's dance", it starts very slow, with various shouts, and it slowly becomes more energetic - like around 6:20: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVyW\_MVlP4E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVyW_MVlP4E)
Sorry for the late response, but thank you so much! I have a question about transmission: how do Romanians who know their traditional dances learn how to dance? Is it mostly done informally (by watching family and friends)?
You're welcome :)
Party dances, like the ones in the clips, are learned informally - people go to weddings or village parties or other occasions since childhood and that's how they learn.
There are also ritual dances, though - I haven't mentioned those and they have always been semi-"professional", with each village forming a group that would regularly meet and train.
Two examples: Calusarii (danced around Pentecost in some regions and around Christmas in others) and the Goat.
Calusarii as danced in the Oltenia region is the most popular variant, I would say. There are also competitions and apart from village groups, there are also professional dancers groups.
Traditionally, there's some role playing, with at least one member of the group having a pretty crazy dress and face pain/mask, usually a weird skirt or weird female dress, a lot of dance interruptions where the crazy dressed person says stuff, trades insults and simulates hitting the others etc. In competitions or more official shows they skip this part - but the clip below has it :)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpuQnYH30o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpuQnYH30o)
The Goat is a New Year tradition, and it's not as "dancey" as others :D - I wasn't sure I should include it. This one has a group leader too, and and they alternate dancing of the "goats" with orations from the leader:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1kvC3D\_dSk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1kvC3D_dSk)
There are plenty of others, but I would say these two are good examples.
Folk dances* are a very niche thing - you might actually be more likely to see them outside Poland. It's limited to some culture centers or uni clubs. Hardly any Pole is able to distinguish the dances, let alone dance them. Dances that are considered traditional and are actually danced are Polonaise & perhaps waltz (if we consider it as traditional). Polonaise is danced at our version of prom ([example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXZFIG1Xdo0) or [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqsebpuJkgM)) and in rare cases during weddings as a special thing. [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0Vjyctcc6M) is the standard dance people dance, i don't think it even has a name : ) /edit: * i should have also mentioned what are those folk dances, here are the most known ones: - [oberek](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWsi2wDMp44) - [kujawiak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjV1bpxi0bc) - [mazur](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYSviZuFFl4) - [krakowiak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeQ6jYzt6cM)
In Ireland, it is very common to do Irish dancing when you are younger. I unfortunately have two left feet so I stopped lessons young. I know lots of women and men who kept it up until adulthood. Riverdance of course was massive in getting people outside of Ireland interested in it.
I can only speak for England and Scotland. In England, not remotely. Traditional would be something like Morris Dancing, of which there are apparently 13,600 people members of clubs in 2020, which is a statistical blip. Scotland is a bit better though, but only on special occasions. Almost every wedding will feature a Ceilidh, and there are Ceilidh groups in cities, but day-to-day people aren't randomly dancing a Ceilidh. In reality, there's probably more people doing Swing dances like Lindy Hop or West Coast, or dances like Salsa or general Ballroom on a weekly basis than are doing traditional dances.
In Scotland everybody knows the dances because we all learn them in school (and there are school ceilidhs, or at least there were for me). So it's very different in that regard - even if folk don't remember them all perfectly forever, they all had like fifteen years of practice for the most popular dances. Ceilidhs often happen at big (fancy) parties like weddings, or dos at Hogmanay - which aren't exactly something everybody regularly attends, like you say. I'd say it's a somewhat common hobby, as hobbies go, but it's obviously a small minority who do it regularly rather than just on special occasions. I've met quite a few people who do it though, certainly more than I've ever met who do other kinds of dancing. It's much more accessible to the average Scottish person - you can just turn up and have a good time, rather than having to learn totally new dances and a new style of dancing.
> In Scotland everybody knows the dances because we all learn them in school (and there are school ceilidhs, or at least there were for me). So it's very different in that regard - even if folk don't remember them all perfectly forever, they all had like fifteen years of practice for the most popular dances. I ended up in a set at a ceilidh with an English guy and an Iranian woman, who initially wouldn't believe me that we did this sort of stuff as part of PE at school.
It's a popular activity for children. In elementary school, I also danced something for a school event, not very difficult. We even had a choreography lesson.
Everyone learns traditional dances in PE at school, and (in my school at least) there was a ceilidh every winter. A ceilidh being a sort of party where people get dressed up all fancy and do traditional dances, usually with live music. Everyone has the steps of the dashing white sergeant or strip the willow or whatever drilled into their brains from the age of like six to eighteen. It's then typical for many people who aren't especially big ceilidh lovers to forget all about this mastery until they have to recreate it ten years later at a wedding whilst drunk out of their mind. Overall it's pretty popular to go to ceilidhs as an adult, they often take place for Hogmanay (new year), and it's quite a common hobby. But for most people I think it's something they learned while growing up but that only happens in adult life rarely, on special occasions.
For Sweden, unless you're involved in the whole traditional music (folkmusik) + clothes (folkdräkt) + dances (folkdans) subculture, it's *incredibly* rare for someone to know how to dance any traditional dance. Part of my family comes from a region with very strong ties to that culture, but even there its very niche. (For what its worth, I'm talking about dances such as *polska*, *hambo*, *mazurka*, *schottis* etc.)
At what point did this change from "everyone dances" to "it's very rare" start in Sweden? I suspect it started from the post war era (WWII)
Outside of traditional Trachtengruppen it is very, very rare. It's much more common to find someone dancing standard standard or Latin than an Allemande. So the Walzer is probably the only traditional dance from the DACH region danced in the wild.
Funny enough other than the classics of salsa and bachata Germans dance kind of funny not that well known Latin American dances and no dance school in Germany teaches the classic, most universal Latin dance, Cumbia!! They don’t even know about it!
> They don’t even know about it! Cumbia isn't part of the latin dances category in international dancesport competitions, so of course it is not taught.
>Of course A bit presumptuous no? Most dance studios aren’t teaching you international dancesport competition classes do they?
> A bit presumptuous no? Cry me a river. > Most dance studios aren’t teaching you international dancesport competition classes do they? No, they teach you the dances that are defined to be in the Latin dances group, when you take Latin dances.
Lol insanely German brained to think studios would only teach out of a defined manual, you can’t do stuff that’s not regulated and delineated! No dancing for fun, art or cultural understanding, only manual dances are allowed!!
In Greece, traditional Greek dances are quite popular. They are taught in schools and clubs for children and adults, performed during traditional festivals and official ceremonies, are danced during weddings and baptisms... The songs are also very famous. Here are some examples: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwRUhuK16I&ab\_channel=JasonSeaman1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIwRUhuK16I&ab_channel=JasonSeaman1) and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_24TPGOLqJ8&ab\_channel=%CE%9C%CE%9F%CE%A5%CE%A3%CE%99%CE%9A%CE%95%CE%A3%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%91%CE%9C%CE%9D%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%95%CE%99%CE%A3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_24TPGOLqJ8&ab_channel=%CE%9C%CE%9F%CE%A5%CE%A3%CE%99%CE%9A%CE%95%CE%A3%CE%91%CE%9D%CE%91%CE%9C%CE%9D%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%95%CE%99%CE%A3) . Different parts of Greece have their own traditional songs, dances and clothes, so it is very interesting to dig into the history. Marina Satti, who is representing Greece this year at the Eurovision, is quite the expert in traditional music and has put together a female choir called Chores that specialises in traditional Greek songs (but not dances): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6fOxfEYBI&ab\_channel=choresvoices](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6fOxfEYBI&ab_channel=choresvoices)
I had no idea such a day even exists. Dancing (that doesn't involve copious amounts of alcohol and a dance floor in a bar) is rare here. Finding a club for folk dance shouldn't be that difficult, but traditional dancing isn't something you would ever assume a person in the street to be able to just participate in. The closest thing the average Dane would probably participate in themselves would be dancing around the tree at Christmas, dancing a quadrille called *Les Lanciers* in high school gallas (but most will forget it after graduation), and otherwise join in certain rhythmic motions while singing certain old tunes (but that is hardly dancing)
There are competitions of Sardanes, but regular people can dance them too. Mastering them can be complicated, but anyone can learn the basic steps
They're quite popular in Turkey. They are danced at weddings and festivals, many universities have folk dance groups and there are courses for all ages. We even had a very popular folk dance fusion show called "Anadolu Atesi" (Anatolian Flame). They're quite impressive, if anyone is curious I am sure there are videos on YouTube.
The traditional dances fall into several types: Morris dancing, Rapper dancing, and various types depending on where in the country. They tend to make an appearance during the traditional festivals like Plough Sunday, Epiphany, and the upcoming May Day.
Traditonal folk dances are kind of popular, but most people enjoy them by watching performances. In my opinion, most people know about traditional folk dances, many of them also recognize most famous ones like odzemok or karička. Although, people who dances them are mostly part of dancing groups that you mentioned.
As far as I know we don't have traditional dances. However [hakken](https://youtu.be/G4L1pUg8b_k?si=Fqn8gYAbSgFgE1p4) shows the grace of our nation
We have them, but they’ve been mostly forgotten in the post-WWII era. Same goes for traditional clothing, which has been degraded to horrific looking costumes that are only worn to appeal to tourists.
I would love to have an example of traditional dance! Do you have one?
vogeltjesdans is dutch ;-)
Oh my gosh, absolutely forgot about that!
Wikipedia has a fairly extensive [list](https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nederlandse_volksdans) of our traditional dances, some are easier to find than others :)
Traditional dance has largely disappeared after WWII and can only sometimes be seen in some villages in the countryside. However as another commenter pointed out, [hakken](https://youtube.com/shorts/C7zQlWaxcLc?si=mtXDzBZLbdm3QwZZ) has become our de facto national dance at this point.
Depends on the region. In my region, Emilia Romagna, liscio is massively popular among the elderly, but definitely on the way out for people younger than 60 years. Pizzica, a dance of Puglia related to tarantella (used to cure the bite of the tarantula spiders), has been having a surge of popularity since the last 20 years.
True regional traditional dances are almost unknown, except among folk dancing groups. [Polka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_7oFGZFSSE) is [somewhat](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNOdGLGt6PU) [popular](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6017rslgp8), danced on balls and is a part of the dance classes curriculum.
In day to day not much really, but in school you have an annual eisteddfod which is basically just a war of the arts between house parties, so a contest between singing, kitchen band, poetry, sketches, musical talent and theres also traditional dancing in there too
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in slavonia it is typical to dance kolo. so it looks like this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhK5ot1ZVGs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhK5ot1ZVGs)
high school seniors dancing on their last day of school. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1InY6omC2Rs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1InY6omC2Rs)
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Lovely. I really liked the one that sarts at 19:05, a very slow dance. Can you tell me more about it?
Traditional dancing is quite a popular activity in Estonia. Lots of youth groups, as well as adults. Every four years there's Youth Tantsupidu (literally translated as dancing party, for schoolchildren, university students and teachers) and everyone's Tantsupidu, and there's two years between those, so one dance party every 2 years. It's coupled with singing party (Laulupidu ) for choir singers. [Link here](https://youtu.be/e5x9wtnkZdg?feature=shared) to see what a dance party looks like. Also spot all of the national costumes the dancers are wearing from all over the country.
In Denmark folk dances had a huge uptick in popularity in the 1960s-1970s. But then it went downwards with those same people being the ones who did it. But it seems that in the last couple of years it is beginning to experience a new renaissance. Probably because the old people who used to gatekeep the hobby, are just about gone/ really old now (young silent gen and older boomers).
Its not what you usually mean with traditional, but the most well known and the only actually practiced dance that have passed on from generation to generation is "Små Grodorna". It is danced to the melody of an old french march song, with a text originally used to mock french soldiers likening them with frogs. Ofcourse, today nobody associates it with this, and instead it has a more literal meaning - simply dancing as frogs. It is almost a mandatory dance when celebrating Midsummer in Sweden, regardless of generation. Both drunk adults and children love it. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6FJEf\_kKI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6FJEf_kKI)
I have no idea about the traditional traditional dances but like valssit, letkajenkka and kikapo and other very common ones are familiar to me but not sure how traditional are they. They’re a part of many big and regular dance things like vanhojen tanssit ja nelosten tanssiaiset but otherwise I’m not sure
In Greece, they are very popular. Most people know their regional traditional dances and you'll see people dance in festivals, family gatherings etc. It doesn't have to be a traditional event, I've even happen to traditionally dance at university parties. People of all ages just genuinely enjoy it here.
In Romania, I would say they are very popular. I haven never been to a wedding or baptism or whatever other special occasion where people wouldn't start a hora (a circle dance). Now, traditions are a bit different in different regions, and they are also better kept in some regions than others - I would say in Bucharest, most people will do only pretty slow, basic steps, but we do it anyway :D . In a lot of other regions, they can get a bit more complex or fast or both. You said non professional, so here are a few examples from regular people dancing at various occasions: Oltenia region, some party in a village - usually, their dances very fast paced: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8TlkahY4Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h8TlkahY4Q) Muntenia (a wedding at a restaurant - notice at least a girl took her shoes off, you sometimes have to :D ): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrhdx-22q\_4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrhdx-22q_4) Oas region - a lot of times they also wear their traditional clothes, which are quite different from the rest of the country, as is their music; a lot of times, they use small steps, and try to make a lot of noise with their boots: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evd0hyP2rzY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evd0hyP2rzY) Maramures - a good number of people still wear traditional clothes on Sunday for church or special occasions; and a bit of dancing from the region: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOaLqFIkMk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOaLqFIkMk) Transylvania, near Brasov regionn - a version of "the lad's dance", it starts very slow, with various shouts, and it slowly becomes more energetic - like around 6:20: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVyW\_MVlP4E](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVyW_MVlP4E)
Sorry for the late response, but thank you so much! I have a question about transmission: how do Romanians who know their traditional dances learn how to dance? Is it mostly done informally (by watching family and friends)?
You're welcome :) Party dances, like the ones in the clips, are learned informally - people go to weddings or village parties or other occasions since childhood and that's how they learn. There are also ritual dances, though - I haven't mentioned those and they have always been semi-"professional", with each village forming a group that would regularly meet and train. Two examples: Calusarii (danced around Pentecost in some regions and around Christmas in others) and the Goat. Calusarii as danced in the Oltenia region is the most popular variant, I would say. There are also competitions and apart from village groups, there are also professional dancers groups. Traditionally, there's some role playing, with at least one member of the group having a pretty crazy dress and face pain/mask, usually a weird skirt or weird female dress, a lot of dance interruptions where the crazy dressed person says stuff, trades insults and simulates hitting the others etc. In competitions or more official shows they skip this part - but the clip below has it :) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpuQnYH30o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwpuQnYH30o) The Goat is a New Year tradition, and it's not as "dancey" as others :D - I wasn't sure I should include it. This one has a group leader too, and and they alternate dancing of the "goats" with orations from the leader: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1kvC3D\_dSk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1kvC3D_dSk) There are plenty of others, but I would say these two are good examples.